As seen brewed and barrel-conditioned in Chop & Brew – Episode 29: Bad Ass Barrelfied Imperial Porter. Inspired by Arcadia Ales Shipwrecked Porter aka Ballzy Porter, an imperial porter conditioned in bourbon barrels. Thanks to Vaughn Stewart of Arcadia Ales for helping us out with a homebrew-scale version of the recipe.

Now I know in the episode we discuss the use of Northdown hops (and I know we tossed them in there), but I can’t for the life of me find the reference in Vaughn’s notes and recipe…. I will update this as soon as I figure it out! Chip.

For ten gallon batch @ 70% efficiency.

Target OG: 1.082
Target FG: 1.020-ish

Malts:
25 lbs Pale 2-Row (UK) or 72% of grist
4 lb Munich (Belgium) or 11%
2 lbs Chocolate (UK) or 5%
2 lbs Crystal 70 (UK) or 5%
1.25 lb Victory (US) or 3%
0.12 lb Black Malt (UK) or <1%
Mash for 70 min at 150F
Sparge at 175F
Vaughn says: Sparge slowly, mix dark malts throughout grist to avoid channeling/split bed

Hops (pellet):
0.75 oz Columbus (US, 15%AA) @ 75 min
1.5 oz Columbus @ 30 min
4.0 oz Golding (US, 4.5%AA) @ 20 min
1.0 oz Northdown (8%AA) @ 20 min [Paynes called an audible by also adding these hops to the original Vaughn Stewart recipe]

Add yeast nutrient and whirlfloc @ 15 min

Vaughn adds: The one adjustment you might need for hops is due to the whirlpool. After the 0 minute addition, we kill the burners, but whirlpool in the kettle for 15 minutes. Then, kill the whirlpool, let stand for 30 minutes, before chilling with a heat exchanger. Considering all that extra time, I’d add the Goldings at 20 minutes, and whirlpool for 10-15 before chilling.

Yeast:
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale

Vaughn notes: Pitch at 20E6 cells/ml, ferment for 24 hours at 68F. Rouse, bump to 72F until terminal gravity. Target terminal is ~ 1.020

Primary Fermentation should be complete in 10-14 days.

Straight Version:
We left 5 gallons as-is and racked into secondary, then keg to carbonate.

Barrelfied Version:
Bryon racked 5 gallons into 8-gallon Woodinville Whiskey Company Rye Whiskey Barrel. Being the first use of this recently-emptied barrel, we needed to be cautious of “over-conditioning” and pulling too much of the rye whiskey and barrel character. Bryon checked the beer every day and on the third day felt the rye whiskey character was just right (and maybe just a little bit beyond), so he racked it into a keg to carbonate.